stay almost completely unnoticed as long as you can provide me with a few things. Firstly, I need to see my father.”
The governor, far from being taken aback and meekly acquiescing as she’d expected, straightened and looked down his nose at her.
“Young lady, I do not care how you were trained in Pelasia, but here we expect a modicum of manners.”
He watched her intently for a moment and squared his shoulders.
“I checked into matters very thoroughly prior to your arrival and I’m afraid your father passed on a number of years ago of an illness. Secondly, as effectively a foreigner with no familial connections in M’Dahz and no property here, I am not particularly disposed to putting myself out for you. In the spirit of cooperation with King Ashar, I have agreed not to turn you back at the border but, as I’m sure you would soon notice, Pelasians are not well regarded in M’Dahz at the moment and I cannot guarantee your personal safety while in the town.”
Asima frowned. For some reason, the news of her father’s passing had hardly touched her at all. She found herself more concentrating on the other focus of the conversation.
“Then may I ask what you intend to do, governor?”
The man folded his arms and nodded.
“You cannot stay here, young lady, and you are clearly not welcome in Pelasia, so I have made alternative arrangements for you.”
Asima’s frown deepened and she pursed her lips.
“Other arrangements?”
The governor nodded and gestured to the leader of the cataphract unit.
“Your task is complete, captain. I will take responsibility for your charge now.”
The captain saluted and turned with, to Asima’s shrewd eye, just a little too much relief for her liking. She glared at him as he strode to his horse and climbed slowly into the saddle under the weight of the heavy armour. Ignoring the escort as they wheeled their horses and trotted away, she eyed warily the small unit of white-clad governorial guards as they marched out purposefully toward the carriage.
“Explain” she said flatly. The governor shrugged, unconcerned.
“You are a courtier, so I am sending you to court. In a little less than an hour your ship leaves for Velutio and the Imperial capital. You will be both safe and comfortable there, and may find a number of other Pelasians there at any given time.”
Asima’s mouth fell open. She was, for the first time she could remember, completely at a loss for words. Conflicting emotions and ideas raced through her mind. She knew nothing about life in the Imperial court. Certainly they wouldn’t have such things as harems and concubines there. And it was cold. They said it was so cold sometimes in Velutio that the rain came down in lumps. Asima hadn’t experienced rain in her life until she settled in Akkad and even there it was a gentle, warm and refreshing thing.
Of course, Velutio was, if anything, a more powerful place full of influential people even than Akkad. There could be possibilities, but it would require a complete readjustment of her thinking, and she would have to start from scratch.
She realised she was standing like an idiot, her mouth flapping open and closed. Angry with herself, she shut it and tried not to grind her teeth. The look in the governor’s eye was resolute. She would be on board that ship whether she accepted it or not and so, as had always been her way, she grasped the situation and made it her own.
“Very well, your Excellency. I can see that you have covered every angle and have my safety at heart. Would you ask one of your guards to make sure that my luggage is transferred from carriage to ship carefully? I have a number of breakable things with me.”
The governor nodded.
“I hope that Velutio sits well with you, young lady. I have spent many happy years there and for a young noblewoman with money, there are many entertaining diversions.”
Asima nodded and turned toward her carriage to see a new group of men alongside the governor’s guards, busily checking over the carriage. For the second time in as many minutes, Asima’s jaw dropped.
“Asima?”
Ghassan blinked.
“Is that really you?”
Asima found that words just wouldn’t form on her tongue. She was silent as she stared at the tall, muscular naval officer before her. There could be no doubt that it was him. The floppy black curls that fell over his brow took her straight back to those days of running over rooftops and sneaking into warehouses.
“Ghassan?”
The young man nodded, still staring at her. She suddenly became aware that the governor had stepped forward next to her.
“Captain? You know the lady Asima?”
Ghassan shook his head in wonder.
“I knew her many years ago, Excellency, yes.”
The governor nodded.
“Then if your ship is ready for the tide, you will have plenty of time to become reacquainted.”
Asima continued to stare as the ghost of her past formed up his men.
In which a journey is undertaken
Asima frowned as her eyes ran up and down Ghassan once more. It was so clearly him, and yet at the same time he had changed so much. The serious, tall, curly haired boy had grown into his look and suited the uniform of a naval officer, for certain. And while she couldn’t fathom what series of events had led him from the streets of occupied M’Dahz to captaincy in the Imperial navy at Calphoris, he was obviously born for this life.
He seemed at ease and had acquired that natural rolling gait of the practiced sailor. Moreover, he appeared to know every peg and rope on the ship personally and every man aboard, even those three times his age, looked up to him and treated him with respect and trust.
But then, she would have changed as much to his eyes.
She dropped her gaze to the aperture in the wooden hull and the water rushing past outside and chided herself for even beginning to get sentimental over her childhood friend. They had hardly had a chance to exchange a dozen words in these first few hours out of port, with Ghassan constantly occupied on duty. Now, however, he’d come back to the room set aside for her in the covered housing at the rear of the Wind of God, poured two glasses of high-quality wine and sank into the seat opposite, silently waiting for her to initiate conversation.
The problem was that she just had no idea where to begin; wasn’t even sure she wanted to begin. More than half of her life had passed since she had last set eyes on the brothers and she had changed beyond measure. In other circumstances, she might have considered reaffirming an old friendship, but not now.
Digging deep into the well of her being, she was a little surprised to find that the sudden appearance of someone once beloved from her past had almost entirely failed to move her. Once the initial shock had faded, rather than fascination or a desire to catch up, what she found herself wondering was how she could use Ghassan to her advantage?
The greater surprise had been that the realisation that she was truly that shallow and quite possibly now incapable of love, empathy or sympathy had not, in fact given her any cause for concern. Not only had her soul hardened to diamond, cold and impervious, but she was at ease with the fact. Life was a game and needed to be played to win.
Finally, uncomfortably, Ghassan broke the silence.
“I’m so sorry about your father.”
“Mmm?” Asima looked back from the sea, her wandering thoughts sharply reeled in and shut away where they could be contained and protected.
“I asked around and he’d lived well after you left” Ghassan continued. “He was looked after, but an illness of the gut settled in and the doctors could do nothing.”
